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ONE VOICE(not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey):
Fritz Lang’s M
deserves top billing - regardless of the
Blu-ray
edition you choose... It easily supplants Avatar
in my book - but the latter gives quite a show attacking
retinas and eardrums with shocking force. Doctor Zhivago
appears to have been made to watch in the new format - the
masterpiece remains a triumph of beauty and emotion. It's
essential. I can't dismiss Saving Private Ryan
- my 1080P viewing was too impacting - this film has some
absolutely perfectly realized scenes. Wow. Tetro
may not be for those with more mainstream expectations but I
loved the heavy artistic bent from Coppola. I was surprised
at Wake in Fright
- quite the restored film and one that encourages
indulgence. Despite the DNR devil Leonard has endorsement
for both Patton
and The Longest Day.
One glance at those Out of Africa
captures and I'm easily avoiding purchase - and for The Jackal
- I'll wait on the original (The Day of...). On the
DVD front - the film fan in me continues to warm to the
Warner Archive - just too many gems to pass up. One Noir-esque
entry is The Bribe
and another Deep Valley
and I'll be picking up The Verdict
after Gregory's review. Let's pass on Crisis
(bad transfer) but I'll probably get Wrestling Ernest Hemingway
at some point. I always get a
kick out of Chomsky - Manufacturing Consent
sounds do-able. Kore-eda Hirokazu's Air Doll
is certainly a unique and worthwhile entry in my opinion......

THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS

Ichi the KillerBD - Welcome to a world
where violence is a virtue and depravity is a way of life. This
is the underside of Shinjuku, and the Home of Kakihara, a
sadistic Yakuza killer. He relentlessly tears apart the
underworld searching for the man who killed his boss. The
mastermind behind the plot is Jijii, an ex-cop bent on turning
the gangsters of Japan against one another. His trump card is a
physically powerful lunatic who is constantly on the verge of
snapping. This madman is Ichi, the killer, and him and Kakihara,
the streets will run red with blood.
Blu-ray Release Date: February 23rd, 2010

Air Doll - Award-winning
filmmaker Kore-eda Hirokazu explores what it means to be human
through the experiences of an unlikely heroine: an Air Doll.
Appearing in her second Japanese film after Linda Linda Linda,
acclaimed Korean actress Bae Du Na stars as an inflatable sex
doll that comes to life in the aesthetically and emotionally
beguiling fantasy drama based on Goda Yoshiie's manga. Breathing
life and charm into her quirky character, Bae Du Na delivers a
charming performance that is both whimsical and heartbreaking,
and daringly bares all for the film's nude scenes. DVD
Release Date: March 26th, 2010

The Voyeur - When his wife
Silvia (Polish model Katarina Vasilissa) leaves him, Dodo
(Francesco Casale), a professor of French literature, finds
himself alienated from those around him; becoming a passive
viewer of life lead to the fullest by those around him including
his bedridden father (Brass regular Franco Branciaroli) who has
a scantily-clad nurse to attend to him. Dodo's agonizing over
his wife's contempt for him and the identify of the mysterious
lover who has usurped him is countered with lighter vignettes
(mostly lighter, though one moment has one of Brass' starlets
showing her infibulation scars which feels exploitative though
we must commend the actress for not feeling ashamed considering
how psychologically and physically damaging this cultural
practice can be) in which Dodo winds up the voyeur instead of a
participant which insure a positive reaction from Dodo to his
wife's faithlessness in the Brass tradition. DVD Release
Date: April 27th, 2010

TetroBD - Fresh-faced and naive, 17-year-old Bennie
(Alden Ehrenreich) arrives in Buenos Aires to search for his
older brother who has been missing for more than a decade. The
family had emigrated from Italy to Argentina, but with the great
musical success of their father Carlo (Klaus Maria Brandauer),
an acclaimed symphony conductor, the family moved from Argentina
to New York. When Bennie finds his brother, the volatile and
melancholy poet Tetro (Vincent Gallo), he is not at all what
Bennie expected. In the course of staying with Tetro and his
girlfriend Miranda (Maribel Verdú), Bennie grapples with his
brother and the haunting experiences of their shared past in
this widely acclaimed film by legendary director Francis Ford
Coppola. Blu-ray Release date:
May 4th, 2010

The JackalBD - Along with Bruce Willis
and Richard Gere, Bunny Parker should get star billing for The
Jackal, a thriller that's more preposterous than thrilling.
Parker, who is Willis' hairdresser, came up with a dozen hairdos
for him -- from strawberry blond curls to a dark ducktail -- and
pasted them on his head so they would stay put during the action
scenes. Blu-ray Release date:
April 27th, 2010

Wake in FrightBD - John Grant (Gary Bond)
is a fledgling, middle-class teacher from the big city. He feels
disgruntled because of the onerous terms of a financial bond
which he signed with the government in return for receiving a
tertiary education. The bond has caused him to be posted to a
tiny school at Tiboonda -- a remote fly-speck situated in the
arid Australian outback. It is the start of the Christmas school
holidays, and Grant plans to journey to Sydney to visit his
girlfriend and surf at the beach. But first, he must travel by
train to the nearby mining town of Bundanyabba (known as “The
Yabba”) in order to catch a Sydney-bound flight. Blu-ray Release date: June 27th,
2010

AvatarBD - "Avatar" is the story
of an ex-Marine who finds himself thrust into hostilities on an
alien planet filled with exotic life forms. As an Avatar, a
human mind in an alien body, he finds himself torn between two
worlds, in a desperate fight for his own survival and that of
the indigenous people. Blu-ray
Release date: April 22nd, 2010

Wrestling Ernest Hemingway
- They’re retirees who are anything but retiring. Robert Duvall
and Richard Harris deliver “two of the year’s most spectacular
performances” (Bob Campbell, Newhouse Newspapers) as a reserved
ex-barber and a salty former sea captain, beached in a quiet
Florida town and living solitary lives. But after meeting in the
local park one afternoon, these polar opposites soon become the
unlikeliest of friends. Randa Haines (Children of a Lesser God,
The Doctor) directs and Shirley MacLaine, Piper Laurie and
Sandra Bullock co-star in this wonderful film that shows how
friendship opens up the two men to life’s riches. If you like
movies brimming with characters who linger in the memory,
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway is “the perfect tonic”. DVD
Release Date: September 15th, 2009

Out of AfricaBD - Out of Africa is
an adaptation for the screen of a number of books, some by the
principle character, Karen Blixen (who wrote under the name Isak
Dinesen); one by her biographer, Judith Thurman. It is a
romantic memoir of her time in Africa where she ran a farm in
the early 1910's and 20's. It was a time when Europeans pretty
much had their way in the "Dark Continent" and where a number of
countries were so named (Belgian Congo, British East Africa,
German East Africa, French Somaliland – it was quite a list).
White women, however, still had to maintain their proper place –
And it is made quite clear from the outset that the newly
married Baroness Blixen (Streep) was not supposed to be doing
this sort of thing. Blu-ray
Release date: April 27th, 2010

Hiruko the Goblib -
Archaeologist Takashi Yabe (Naoto Takenaka) discovers the
entrance to a cave beneath a burial mound near his son's school.
He and pretty student Reiko (Megumi Ueno) enter the cave and are
attacked by an unseen force. Later Yabe's son Masao (Masaki
Kudou) believes he sees Reiko kissing another boy (who
subsequently turns up dead) and suffers an attack in which a
mark burns itself into his back. Masao is saved from
supernatural attack by his father's archaeologist friend Hieda
(Kenji Sawada) whose belief in goblins' claimed the life of
Masao's aunt but Masao doesn't need convincing when more of his
friends turn up dead (and headless) and the two are soon on the
run from a spider-legged goblin wearing Reiko's head. DVD
Release Date: May 10th, 2005

Manufacturing Consent - The
natural audience for this long but thoroughly engrossing
documentary is North America, since it was made to give Chomsky
and his radical ideas the kind of profile the US press and
broadcast media routinely deny him. None the less, this is
useful as an introduction to the man himself (his Depression
childhood, his rise in linguistics, his radical activism) and
even more valuable as an anthology of his political campaigns
and major debating skirmishes. The film-makers avoid a
'voice-of-authority' commentary, allowing cutting and
juxtapositions to carry the arguments and dialectics forward.
More's the pity, then, that they sometimes fall back on
tabloid-style gimmickry to get points across, none of which is
necessary to bolster Chomsky's largely incontrovertible
arguments. A decent, civilised piece of work. DVD Release
Date: January 29th, 2009

Newsmakers - A shootout
between cops and a violent gang of robbers spills out onto the
street resulting in multiple casualties including cops and
innocent bystanders. When a news crew covering a minor accident
involving a pop singer catch some of the action (including a
crying cop), the "Breaking News" team use it as an example of
police incompetence and for an editorial advocating citizens
carrying small arms to defend themselves. When the robbers hold
up in an apartment complex with hostages, the police PR
department (lead by progressive Katya [Mariya Mashkova] who is
more concerned with police image than justice) decides to
broadcast the subsequent capture as a live reality show to
re-instill public confidence in the police by having them storm
the building with cameras attached to their helmets. DVD
Release Date: May 3rd, 2010

Takeshi: Childhood Days -
Most World War 2 movies center around adult characters. It was
refreshing to see a film about World War 2 that is almost
entirely told from a child's perspective. The film's main
character is a young boy named Shinji who is sent to live with
relatives in the country. The most compelling aspect of this
film is the way that it examines the underlying hostility that
the country children feel for the child from the big city.
DVD Release Date: April 28th, 2005

Saving Private RyanBD - Spielberg's meticulous
period detail effectively re-creates the war-torn countryside of
occupied France. The American soldiers visit two bombed-out
towns where all that remains standing are the half-shattered
husks of once-impressive structures. Many of the weapons that
appear in Saving Private Ryan are authentic period pieces,
bought from collectors. And, following the successful landing at
Normandy, we are treated to a spectacular panorama of the beach,
with a variety of mighty ships anchored offshore and the sky
thick with blimps. Even though the Omaha Beach sequences were
filmed in Ireland, they nevertheless offer a sense of
verisimilitude that those familiar with the actual place on the
English Channel shore will find hard to dispel. Blu-ray Release Date: May 4th, 2010

PattonBD - What Paths of Glory
attempted to show about the relationships between officers and
men of the first World War, PATTON in part attempts to do
for the second. Patton, of course, is best remembered as the
general who slapped a soldier. But George C. Scott, under the
direction of Franklin Schaffner, creates a much more colorful
and ambiguous portrait. This WWII spectacle is immense but
Scott's virtuoso performance looms larger than any of its
battles. His characterization can appeal to both hawks and
doves; it can appreciated either as a critique or a paean. He's
insensitive to his men's plight on some occasions, gentle as a
loving father on others. Patton's eccentricity may very well
have been an important ingredient of victory. PATTON is a war
movie of unusual depth and a landmark in screen biographies. Blu-ray Release date: June 3rd,
2008

The Longest DayBD - Zannuck, who
participated in the first world war in France and Belgium,
wanted to recreate the Normandy Invasion in a quasi-documentary
– but always faithful to the Hollywood idea of things. Thus,
perhaps, its being filmed in black & white. Also, so that it
could better mix with actual WWII documentary footage. Also, so
that its many stars – so many that none are listed on the cover
- could better blend into the action. A good choice all around.
Blu-ray Release date: June 3rd,
2008

M
BD - Of all Fritz Lang’s creations, none have been
more innovative or influential than M, the film that launched
German cinema into the sound era with stunning sophistication
and mesmerising artistry. A spate of child killings has stricken
a terrified Berlin. Peter Lorre gives a legendary performance as
the murderer Hans Beckert, who soon finds himself chased by all
levels of society. From cinema’s first serial killer hunt, Lang
pulls back to encompass social tapestry, police procedural, and
underworld conspiracies in an astonishingly multi-faceted and
level-headed look at a deeply incendiary topic. One of the
greatest psychological thrillers of all time, M remains as fresh
and startling almost 80 years on. The Masters of Cinema Series
is proud to present a stunning high-definition restoration of a
definitive classic of world cinema. Criterion
Blu-ray Release Date: May 11th,
2010

Doctor ZhivagoBD - David Lean's Doctor
Zhivago is an exploration of the Russian Revolution as seen
from the point of view of the intellectual, introspective title
character (Omar Sharif). Lara inspires lechery in Komarovsky
(her mother's lover who is a master at surviving whoever runs
Russia) and can't compete with passion for the revolution of the
man she marries, Pasha. Her true love is Zhivago who also loves
his wife. Lara is the one who inspires poetry. The story is
narrated by Zhivago's half brother Yevgraf, who has made his
career in the Soviet Army. At the beginning of the film he is
about to meet a young woman he believes may be the long lost
daughter of Lara and Zhivago. Blu-ray
Release date: May 4th, 2010

Firefly - the Complete SeriesBD - The series takes its
name from the Firefly class of starship, of which the Serenity
is one of its relics. Mal is the captain. His crew doubles as
smugglers that try to stay a step ahead of Alliance federalis.
Also in pursuit are a group of vicious predators known as
Reavers and whomever else Mal manages to offend in one episode
or other. His crew consists of Zoe, his number 1 (Gina Torres);
Wash, pilot and husband to Zoe (Alan Tudyk); Kaylee, engineer
(Jewel Staite); and Jayne, the muscle whose loyalties are always
in question (Adam Baldwin). Blu-ray
Release date: November 11th, 2008

Saint Joan - “The story of
Joan of Arc,” historian Andre Maurois wrote, “is at once the
most amazing miracle in history and the most logical sequence of
political acts.” But the church court trying the teenage girl
saw neither divine intervention nor uncommon acumen in her
astonishing triumphs. It saw heresy – and death by fire.
Seventeen-year-old Jean Seberg plays the visionary Maid of
Orleans in Otto Preminger’s production of Saint Joan, adapted
from George Bernard Shaw’s play by Graham Greene and cast with a
company of bravura talents. Richard Widmark turns his tough-guy
persona on its head to play a Dauphin more court jester than
future king. And stately John Gielgud is the English commander
who scoffs: “The angels may be on the side of the church – but I
have 800 soldiers.” DVD Release Date: March, 2010

The Verdict - Siegel's
first film, an ingenious locked room mystery set in London in
1890, adapted from a novel by Israel Zangwill (often described
as the father of the genre). Greenstreet plays a genial Scotland
Yard inspector who, dismissed after thirty years of
distinguished service when an oversight results in the hanging
of an innocent man, deviously stages a second case; this not
only sees justice done (the victim is himself a killer), but
puts Greenstreet's baffled successor (Coulouris, the ambitious
underling who shopped him in the first place) on the road to
perpetrating a similar miscarriage of justice in solving it.
Fascinatingly, though, Siegel deliberately plays on ambivalences
throughout, leaving motivations not quite explained and opening
up dark, speculative avenues of paranoia and perversity, not
least through Greenstreet's teasing, subtly suggestive intimacy
with Lorre as an amiably decadent, inimitably sinister artist
friend. The result, impeccably performed and beautifully shot by
Ernest Haller, emerges as splendid cross between Gothic
melodrama and film noir. DVD Release Date: May 8th, 2009

Deep Valley - Libby Saul
(Ida Lupino) was raised in the Deep Valley. Isolated on a
farm with her bitter parents, her only friend a devoted dog,
Libby knows loneliness too well. Then a crew of convicts arrives
to build a road and Libby is fascinated by the strangers,
especially a good-looking hothead named Barry (Dane Clark). When
Barry escapes his work gang, Libby offers him shelter – a
gesture of kindness that awakens her timid soul. Lupino gives
further proof of her remarkable dramatic range with a sensitive
portrayal of an awkward, stuttering girl transformed by love.
And director Jean Negulesco (Johnny Belinda), with a painterly
appreciation of light and shadow, captures the wild beauty of
the film’s Big Sur locations. DVD Release Date: July 6th,
2009

Crisis - Eugene Ferguson
pledged to help people when he became a doctor, but will he
perform a life-saving surgery on a South American tyrant (Jose
Ferrer) who’s taken him captive? Yes, if Ferguson hopes to leave
the troubled land. No, if he heeds the threats made by
revolutionaries determined to overthrow the despot. Cary Grant
plays Ferguson, a physician navigating the unexpected terrain
between a rock and a hard place in this political thriller
that’s the directorial debut of Richard Brooks (Elmer Gantry).
The role is a change of pace for Grant, and he prepared for it
with diligent study and observation of surgical procedures. The
result is a portrayal rooted in reality and put across with the
uncanny talent of one of film’s greatest stars. DVD Release
Date: June 22nd, 2009

The Bribe - The Bribe
starts with a storm and ends with fireworks – fitting bookends
for a crime thriller full of passion, greed and double crosses.
The story revolves around a war-surplus racket operated from an
island off the Central American coast, where federal agent
Robert Taylor runs into the only thing steamier than the
weather: Ava Gardner. World-wise, world-weary and fabulous
looking, Taylor and Gardner epitomize noir sex appeal. And the
consummate actors playing the villains couldn’t be more adept at
oozing evil. Vincent Price portrays the suave criminal
mastermind and Charles Laughton is his henchman, a sweaty wharf
rat. DVD Release Date: October 6th, 2009